Such a great game today. I had just finished telling my daughter, "No wonder people in the U.S. don't like soccer. We have to score three legit goals just to get one counted!" Then Donovan puts that one through! I was screaming my head off and freaked out my daughter. I looooooove watching soccer!! Can't wait for the next round.

US v Ghana. Prob better than getting Germany. England coach behaving like they've won the tournament. To be expected I suppose after crushing the mighty Slovenia. Good on the US for winning the group. All Englands swaggering bravado before the WC and they cannot even top their group. Hope Germany blow them out on Sunday.US can make quarters at least.

When is the next U.S. game? I can't seem to find the schedule on ESPN. Both Ghana and Germany looked pretty sharp today, but I'm definitely glad we got Ghana. How does it work from here on out? Do they do groups again?

us v. ghana on saturday at 2 pm est. can't wait for the rematch from 2006.
what a stressful game today! ugh. I practically gave myself an ulcer this morning. should have been 3 or 4 nothing. aside from altidore putting that one over the crossbar by about 500 feet, I thought he played really, really well today. I would love to see Buddle starting up top with him on saturday. I thought Buddle did a pretty good job in a limited amount of time. let gomez come off the bench in the 75th minute or so, and let his energy help the US later in the game. if necessary of course.
glad to see the loudmouthed slovenians going home, even though england going home would have been just as nice.

The game does start at 2:30 PM EST There is always a half hour of pre-game before they start the match. I hope we can get the revenge we deserve against Ghana for 2006. Going undefeated in the first round. We are well on our way boys.

Dave - it's knockout from here. Tied after 90 minutes they play 30 minutes of extra time. If one team scores any time in that 30 min it is a "golden goal" and the game ends right there. If no score after the 30 it goes to penalties

"didn't it seem like the pace of the game changed when buddle came into the game? "

yes. I am a big fan of buddle playing more minutes. I think he brings to the table, what charlie davies brought.
I think gooch needed a break. he has played a lot of minutes while not being completely fit.

The thing I was most impressed with was the play of the Forwards. I thought Altidore did well, although he needs to realize he isn't Robinho and start passing and laying off more balls in the mid field. Gomez was all over the place. Seriously, I saw him go from shooting on target to defending at the top of the box, also had some great shots, and showed amazing pace. I can't believe we were worried about replacing Davies. I still believe he was a step above, but wow the rest of the squad is really stepping up.

One thing I'm interested to see now is where a lot of these players end up after the tournament. Cherundolo, Donovan, Dempsey, Bradley, Altidore, Demerit, Bocanegra (at his age though, I dont see him leaving rennes), and Gomez have had very good matches, and are all deserving of moves to better clubs. This could be very good for US soccer if these players can lock down contracts with champions league level squads.

I've got Demps and Donovan going to the big four. Chelsea will have first pick, and whichever they get the other one will end up at a top 4 or Europa League side at the worst.

Not surprised. They brought a squad of Dinosaurs. Cannavaro is like 36, for god sakes. Glad to see Di Natale, and I feel that a few good selections were made, but Balotelli should of not only been on the original 30, but the final 23.

poorly played game. bradleys refusal to play buddle cost them this game. not sure what his issue is with buddle, but no reason you should leave your most confident striker on the bench in a do or die game. agreed with bizz about findleys not finishing that chance. that was the finishing skills of a person lacking confidence. buddle puts that one away.
proud and embarrased at the same time. this squad could easily be in the semi's this year.

not to disrespect anyone here as i've stated earlier that i'm nowhere near a soccer expert, but you guys keep saying buddle this and buddle that, but fact is, it was the defense that gave up the goals to ghana. had their defense been better, it might have been a different outcome, right?

the point is to score more than the other team. the US team did not get one goal from a striker in this tourney. all of their goals came from midfielders. seeing the ball leave your foot, and hitting the back of the net builds confidence. knowing that, Buddle had the most confidence of any striker on the team, and should have been seeing more playing time. bradley was so worried about trying to remake the altidore/davies combo with findlay, that I think he forgot about how well buddle had been finishing.
the defense sucked, and EVERYONE knew that coming into the tournament.

So,maybe now the overpaid,over hyped English players will finally realize that they are not world class. Unlucky with the disallowed goal but that should not detract from the fact that they were outplayed,out thought, and just completely outclassed. As Steve Macmanaman said,maybe the whole of English football needs to be overhauled. The massive influx of foreign players into the Premier League leads to a false perception of the quality of English football. Had Ballack been playing and controlling the midfield it would have been 6. Maybe more.

And if US football is to reach a level that it can, they need a new coach. Bradleys team selections were bizarre at times. Having to substitute a non injured player after barely 30 minutes,in a game that goes to extra time, is disastrous. A player that should never have started in the first place,gets dispossed in midfield,gives away the goal and then 5 minutes later gets booked. Then another halftime substitution leaving you with one more available sub in a game that ultimately has another 75 minutes to go???.Schoolboy stuff. And constantly conceding an early goal shows a lack of mental preparation. You cannot keep making the same mistake over and over and expect to be competitive at the highest level.

^^^
agreed. I was watching the game with about 15 other people, and not a one of us could figure out why ricardo clark was starting. don't forget that the first touch on the ball for the US team was poor at best. ghana outclassed them by a long shot.
I think what you are saying about premier league having an influx of foreign talent, is similar to what MLB has now. while the US might be one of the best baseball nations, it is not clearly head and shoulders above the rest.

Yup. Hate the lack of creative and beautiful play with Dunga as coach, but I must say, they are efficient. I wonder what Manchester City are thinking while watching the guy that struggled with them light up the world cup after such a successful loan to Santos. Robinho's finish was class, and Juan's was good too.

Big heavy - I LOVE watching the dutch play, fast and exciting, and both of their wingers can dribble it in and fire shots from long range, They have one of the best mid fields in the game.

I've been watching Everything from the MLS to Champions League and Euro since 2006, and have NEVER seen such drama in a match as I have today. Wow, what a great finish. It was like a Rollercoaster. Suarez is a hero in so many ways. But man, what class to miss the penalty, and then step up 3 minutes later and bury the next one like you couldn't miss. I've had PK's saved or missed in Pick up and high school matches and felt awful, what mental strength by Gyan, that's incredible.

You saw Wesley Sjneider today for the Netherlands, their other winger Robben is better IMO; just stunning.

glad to see the dutch avenge the losses from world cups past finally. I have been rooting them on since the Gullit Van Bastien days. always fun to watch. the last remaining team for me family wise is spain, so I am rooting them on from here on out. although paraguay does put up a good argument. ^^^^^^

I said earlier,Germany always put up a good show at the WC.I never expected this though because they are such a young side. Fast,innovative,hard working and very well structured at the back. .Clever,meticulous coach who works out their opposition perfectly.Thrashed England and now destroyed Argentina. Hard to see anybody stopping them. Maybe Spain?

the 2nd half of the spain-paraguay game was crazy! a penalty kick for each team - both stopped by the goalies! how sick was that?!?! then david villa's goal at the 83rd minute...that had to have broken paraguay's spirits. heck of a game! spain-germany is going to be insane!

germany looks unstoppable. they have the skilled players to finish up top, and the defensive strength at the back. and to think their would be starting GK killed himself last summer. amazing run they are on right now.
netherlands v. germany for the final is my guess.

Yeah probably. Three really good sides - Spain,Germany,Netherlands,all with world class players. The Germans just seem really organized at the back. They are patient as well. They suck you in and then break with bewildering speed (ask England). I know it sounds simplistic but it is imperative not to fall behind early to them. It means you are chasing the game,forced to commit players forward and then they hit you so fast on the break.

I would LOOOVE to see the Dutch win it. They have come so close before. They have the players to do it as well. Sneijder,Van Persie,Robben.... Sneijder is a real class act. Every wc winning team always has a midfield genius.

What beautiful goals. Van Bronckhorsts' was the best, but Seriously, all of them were pretty. Especially Robben's Header, I loved that aim. For those of you that don't play, having to reach back for the ball and still drilling it in off the post is astounding.

Glad Uruguay are out. If they had shown a bit of sheepish humility after the Ghana game I would have given them more respect. And so would a lot of other people. Instead their amazing run has been overshadowed by hailing Suarez as a national hero, him blabbering on about it being the "true hand of God" and their management reacting with absolute fury every time one of the press dared to mention it. Lucky for him he wasn't on the goaline trying to palm out Van Bronckhorsts thunderbolt. Would have probably torn his arms off.
My goal of the tournament so far.

And Forlan - probably Alex Fergusons worst purchase at Man U (along with Veron) and then he has a tournament like this. One of the MVP's of the tournament.

Joe - Ian Darke is a boxing commentator as well. A good one.

Tomorrows game is going to be one of the tournament highlights (hopefully)

Fifa need to (they won't) introduce penalty goals. If the goal is a dead cert,and the Ghana one was, they should award a penalty goal. They award penalty tries in rugby if they are certain a try is going to be scored and a player commits a foul in order to prevent it.

Ghana had got the job done right at the death and they were cheated out of certain victory. A penalty is not a sure thing. It should be but with all that pressure etc, etc, it isn't.
I understand exactly what the rules are but the rules need to be changed. Sepp Blatter at Fifa is the problem. Inflexible and intolerant. Will he ever leave??

easily. there is nothing prettier in soccer than seeing a goal like that. that goal was the definition of world class.

as far as suarez goes. he was penalized appropriately. the fact that anyone talks about it being a hand of god or whatever is just stupid though. it is cheating, and he was penalized for it. Ghana just did not step up and finish it. would anyone even be talking about it, if that happened in the first 10 minutes of the game?
I like that soccer does not go crazy with too many changes. I think the only thing they need to change, is put two extra ref's behind the goals for major tourneys. they have done that in some euro tourneys and it has proven to be successful. I like the fact that you can spend about 100 minutes, including halftime to watch a game. american football is too long, baseball (as much as I love it, is waaaay too long).
and Sepp Blatter does need to go. he is going on like his 4th 4 year term already.

Forlan has been an absolute hero for Uruguay. one of my good friends is from Uruguay and was telling me prior to the tourney that Forlan was going to win the golden boot award. did not happen, but he scored some of the best goals of the tourney.

"And Forlan - probably Alex Fergusons worst purchase at Man U (along with Veron) and then he has a tournament like this. One of the MVP's of the tournament."

Come on, give the Berba another year and he will EASILY replace Forlan on that list

Definitely no on instant replay. Never. EVER. I'm okay with goal line technology, such as a chip in the ball to show instantly when it has passed the goal line, or an extra ref, but the beauty of soccer is that there is ALWAYS the danger of a counter attack, and that the clock doesn't stop unless it's an emergency (Only time coming to mind was the MLS final last year when the stadium lights went out for an hour and a half). Instant replay would stop play. Especially for offsides calls. It sucks, but ref's still get it wrong with replay in other sports. Just let it be, and go with something instant, such as the chip or goal line ref.

"if you think other sports are long, soccer will then be right up there. "

Soccer is pretty set on staying "original".... you really don't see a lot of change since the old days... I just don't think they would ever send the head ref off to check a call.... the pace of the game would be destroyed.

The only way I see it happening is if there is another ref who is watching in a booth, and basically seeing the TV version who has radio contact, any call that is questionable they can refer to him who would adjust the call on the field if need be..... but still unlikely to me

They need a guy on the goal line and that's it. His only job is to see if the whole ball has crossed the line. You don't want calls being referred and tv monitors being used. It ends up as an interminable stop start affair,losing continuity and pi$$ing off the fans. The offside calls by the linesman should be left as is. Always a huge outcry when they get it wrong but they probably get 95% of the calls right.
I don't want to see a goal scored then the ref being summoned by the linesman,a private conversation then it being overruled and everybody being called back.Unless the linesman had his flag up before the goal being scored and the ref never saw it. But they are in radio contact so that shouldn't happen anyway.I don't like the chip idea in the goalmouth either. The players want to see an official making the call. Guy on the line,like they do in the European cup.

hard to believe the US beat that same Spain side last year.
glad to see spain go to the finals. they are definitely the best team in the world right now. the final should be a great, great game. I can't wait till sunday!

Spain looked unbelievable! The score definitely did not reflect the skill difference in that game. Spain had full control. Good to see them going forward and good to see that we'll have a brand new World Cup winner this year!!

He damn near killed him. In fact Platini said afterward that he thought Battistan had died when he slipped into a coma (on the field) Three teeth knocked out,damaged vertebrae...... etc,etc,Battistan had come on as a second half sub and had only been on the field for about 10 minutes. Kinda puts the mistaken offside flag into perspective. If that had happened today Schumaker would almost certainly have been charged with assault. Probably banned for life as well.

If it wasn't so horrific the reaction of the commentators and the ref would have been quite funny. The enormity of it seemed to sail completely over the refs head,even after the incident when the man lay practically dying on the ground. And the commentator "it certainly seemed like a wild jump" Really?? So British,
Lol

I remember that from some highlight tapes I had on VHS back in the late 80's. that was awful.
check out some of the Roy Keane tackles on youtube as well. that was one dirty bastard. watching him and vinnie jones play were entertaining to say the least.